Work.  All she did was work her life away.  All her old friends have stopped talking to her.  She never talked or was able to go out with them anymore.  Her eye bags grew darker and darker every week.  She always walked around like a zombie, but instead of brains, she just wanted to sleep.  When she got home she caught up on work, and usually passed out during household chores.

Rest. She was meant to have a week off for rest.  She was asked to do her supervisors’ reports with a promise of a promotion.  As her final day went on she didn’t sleep whatsoever.  She filled out the reports for some guy dangling a promotion just outside her reach.  

Foul. She smelt horrible.  She had no clue when she last took a break to bathe.  She had enough and finally decided to give in.  She used to be so clean before this job.  As she got up she caught her reflection in the mirror.  She had put on some weight which made her look pudgy and her hair was greasy.  She felt disgusted with how she let this job take away the care she used to put into herself.  As she reached the bathroom she searched her cabinets for something to freshen up with.  She wanted to spoil herself for all the work she had done recently.  

Stripped.  As she stripped herself naked she felt relieved to be out of the clothes she felt so gross in.  Never did she think a job would be able to make her feel like such a waste.

“Is this job even worth it?  I mean like I could just end it here and now.  I won’t have to go to work anymore.  I don’t talk to people outside of that place anyway.  No clue when I last saw, or talked to my parents.”  She contemplates aloud in the bathtub.  “I just need to rest my eyes and get something to eat that isn’t instant noodles so these stupid thoughts go away.” 

Closed.  She closed her eyes in hopes of getting a bit of rest while she could.  She was away from her phone so no one could talk about work.  The bathroom was her safe place with the bright lights.  She just needed a bit of rest.  Just a bit longer and then she would finish those reports.

Weeping.  When she had decided to open her eyes she realized she had fallen asleep.  She felt her face to see if she was the one crying.  She looked around and saw a girl.  A girl who was in better shape than herself.  She had felt jealous.  

“Can I help you?” she asked the crying girl.

“no, just please go back to sleep,” the crying girl wept.

“I wish I could, but I gotta get back to work.”

“you let something so small and unimportant like work lead you here?” the crying girl asked.

“Yup, it really had a grasp on people,” the girl in the tub said, trying to make a light-hearted joke.

“that obvious, huh?” the crying girl asked.

“How about this, you be me for the day, and I’ll be you,” she proposed jokingly.

“yeah sure we can do that,” The girl said sniffling.

Change.  The crying girl was gone, and the room changed.  The girl was suddenly dressed in a long shabby robe.  She was in a bright city in the middle of the night.  A city that had bustling lights and people everywhere.  She watched as a man jumped off the building.  She was too frozen to move.  As she watched the man fall she begged for it to stop.  

Air.  The man froze in mid-air.  The city froze with him.  The girl was by him suddenly.  The stillness of the city surrounded them both.  The man was shocked to see her and the city frozen.  The girl begged to know why he did this.  He confessed his sins to the girl.  The girl listened and didn’t speak.  The guy told her his whole life story.  As the man aired his grieves he felt lighter.  The weight he had held onto fell off.  As he felt lighter, time began again.  The man fell to his death as people watched from the streets.  A light escaped his body and went to the girl.  She realized what happened.

Souls.  The girl in the bathroom collected souls for a living.  She was a grim reaper.  The job she has to do is to collect souls and listen to people's stories.  Each person the girl went to was different.  A loving mother surrounded by her kids.  A young boy who never got to experience what his life could have offered.  Each person had a different story and a different level of brightness from the soul. 

List.  Each person she saw was on the list.  Each name had a story to tell:  Leo Romanczyk, the man who killed himself in the city, Carla Meyers, the woman surrounded by her daughters, and Ace Richards, the boy who never lived his life to the full extent.  At the end of the list, there was one name that stuck out to her.  Melanie Parker.  That was her name.  She was the final person on the list to die tonight.

“i see you have reached the end.”  The girl from the bathroom showed up again.  Melanie was back to where she had started this adventure.  Naked in her bathtub with little to no light from the dying bulb in the ceiling.  

“That was quite the day I had, so I get why you were crying like that earlier,” Melanie casually said.  Melanie knew why it was so hard for her to open her eyes now.  She found her pills in the cabinets, took too many, and fell asleep.  “I feel so light now.  Honestly, I haven't felt this way since I was twenty.”

Story.  Melanie followed the routine of the others before her and told her story.  She pushed herself hard in school to succeed.  She went to college and made some close friends.  Almost got married, but working was something she felt was more important.  Stuck in a workforce that was mainly men, and felt like she needed to prove herself.  Always taking others' work to try and shine.  Always promised a promotion that she never did get.  

Dull.  When it was time for her soul to be taken the light wasn’t bright.  It was truly hers.  No light was left in it.   Completely drained of her desire to keep talking she gave up and died.